Threading the Needle: Florida Plan Gives Citizens
Real Paper Ballots

Bill Faulkner’s
Answer to Fear and Loathing in the Voting
Booth

North Florida.
Retired Navy aviator and veteran, Bill Faulkner, MBA, may
have done the impossible. He devised a plan to return
believable elections to Florida by turning optical scan
forms into the ballot of record, to be counted by
citizens in public areas where all can view the process
taking place. This radical departure from the maze
of today’s computerized voting harkens back to over 100
years of U.S elections history. But first, a little
background.

We all want to vote and know that our votes
are counted properly and that the true winner of any
election won fair and square. Since 2000, it’s become
virtually impossible to know what happens to our votes if
we’re voting on computerized voting machines (touch
screens) or on paper ballots totaled by the other
computerized voting machine, optical scan readers. Lately
we’re hearing terms like papertrails and
verifiedballots. These are just slightly
more sensible than undervotes and overvotes.
Casting aside bureaucratic jargon and the explanations of
hiredgun experts, we know this much.

When our votes enter a touch screen machine, we
have no idea what happens to those votes.

When
we mark a special paper ballot read by a computerized
optical scan reader, we have no idea how the readers operate
or if they’re operated properly.

If we ask to
watch vote counting, we’ll almost always be told NO or, if
allowed, we’re placed in a distant corner like a six year
old having a tantrum.

Finally even if we’re
given a pass to watch computerized vote counting, we
end up observing a box covering a computer most of us
don’t understand, provided by vendors (any of them) that
seem to blame any problems with the election process on ….
you guessed it … YOU, the citizen, the tax payer..
Comforting isn’t it.

The 200 plus news stories
alone concerning 2006 voting problems are just the tip of
the iceberg. The Congressional effort to improve our voting
system by fixing the problems of Florida 2000 has
been about as successful as the effort to balance the budget
or reign in the executive branch. But it’s our fault, we
have to remember that. After 230 years of our history
Wethe people suddenly forgot how to
vote.

Florida still has problems…after all this time
and six billion dollarsThe Congressional
election in Florida’s 13th district saw heavy turnout.
The seat was previously held by Florida’s former elections
chief and kingmaker Katherine Harris. The
2006 race was a grudge match for all the marbles. In most
of the district, only 2 to 3% of ballots otherwise marked,
had no mark for Congress, about average for Florida. But in
Sarasota County, 15%, or 18,000 ballots otherwise marked had
no mark for Congress.

The only consistent difference
between the areas with the 3% and 15% missing Congressional
vote figures was the type of electronic voting machines
used. Sarasota had the latest and greatest, touch screens,
while the others parts of the district had, for this
election, the somewhat more reliable optical scan readers.
Makes sense doesn’t it? The touch screens malfunctioned.
No other Florida Congressional race had a 15% missing vote
rate for the Congressional race.

But in electronic voting
world, we are required to ignore the logical explanation.
The State of Florida expert panel has spoken. It’s your
fault, my fault, our fault! It’s always the voter’s
fault! Rather than accept that an overly complex solution
to a problem that barely existed has turned into a life
draining parasite on the body politic, we’re told that the
ballotdesign was inferior in Sarasota.
Citizens simply failed to vote for the most important race
in the district. They went to the trouble of getting to the
polling place but once there, they forgot why they went.
They simply couldn’t find this.

Before poor ballot
design was selected as the culprit by the experts
empanelled by the state, we heard other causes related to
our incompetent voting behavior. Negative campaigning made
us not want to vote, but only for Congress. We’re too
old, some of us, which made it hard for us to vote for that
big race even though we voted for other races on the same
ballot. But it is ballot design that caused the problems.
We just can’t read or see very well any more, those of us
who voted.

The obvious answer, the only answer, the one
sure difference between Sarasota and the rest of the
district, different voting machines, was dismissed
out of hand. Why? If there’s a problem with voting
machines throwing out votes that change an election,
then someone might ask the next question. Since
computers simply do as they’re instructed, who programmed
the machines to throw out votes in Sarasota, the strongest
part of the district for the loser, Christine
Jennings.

We are not only denied simple logic and common
sense from these experts entrusted with our elections,
we’re never allowed to consider malicious acts like
politicians (of either party) cheating. Perish the thought.
It’s all just one big coincidence, time after
time.

Possibilities for change…

The end of an
era in Florida came when Jeb Bush was asked what his future
held. He responded, “I’m finished.” The country
agreed by voicing an overwhelming sentiment that Jeb not
seek the presidency.

Apparently, the new Governor is
ready to place some distance too. Even before he took
office, Charlie Crist, the former Florida Attorney General,
said that touch screen voting machines needed a paper trail.
The new governor is a quick study. He then noted the
unreliability of touch screens and announced his support to
have all Florida voting conducted with voter marked forms
counted by optical scan readers.

The special paper forms
that the scanners read are not ballots. The
computerized record of the paper forms read and stored
on the optical scanner are the ballots of record.
When a recount is conducted in Florida (and many other
states), the marked paper forms are simply fed into the
optical scans for another machine count. In Florida, it is
actually illegal to hand count the paper forms or use the
voter marked forms for recounts.

Florida is not alone.
Virginia had an Attorney General race decided by just over
300 votes in 2005. There were hundreds of thousands of well
cared for optical scan paper voting forms clearly marked by
voters. The court managing the recount refused to allow a
hand count of the very best evidence available.

Problems with touch screens have been well documented.
Unfortunately, optical scan readers are also a form of
computerized voting and subject to hacking, pre programming,
and other forms of digital deceit. Touch screens are so
insecure that they’re glaring examples of risk and error.
Optical scan readers look good by comparison at times but
have sufficient risk to make their use an ongoing risk to
the believability of election results.

Bill
Faulkner took Charlie Crist at his word when he issued a
call for citizen involvement in elections policy. Faulkner
has worked on improving elections in Florida since 2000 when
he saw much of his hard work, and certainly his vote,
disappear into the circus that became the Florida recount.
Since that time, he’s been a pioneer in working for
verified voting. In fact, he has started one of the first
state based election reform groups, Verified Voting Florida.

Through activism, education, and communication with
peers, he became clear on the goal of voting. The vote
should produce an accurate result reflecting the intent of
the people, culminating in the choice of the majority or
plurality of voters. Voting should be conducted in a way
that (a) assures voter confidence and (b) allows for the
most effective means of verifying results when questions
arise.

Looking at the history of elections, Faulkner
didn’t hesitate to define the problems as retail
and wholesalefraud. Retail fraud consists of
small numbers of voters, tens to hundreds, gaining false
ID’s to vote multiple times, extra ballots, or other means
of inflating the total of a candidate. The retail version
of election fraud is a serious problem but one confined to a
relatively small number of voters in any election.
“Wholesale” fraud impacts tens of thousands of
votes. While it involves human intervention, it requires
electronic voting or tabulating machines to achieve the
goal, the theft of massive numbers of votes.

Voting on
paper ballots or machines that produce paper
receipts

This is the heart of the debate on election
processes and one key battle ground in the effort to insure
a return to true democracy. Right now, the mantra from
Congress stresses the need for a papertrail
through paperreceipts from touch screens.
The current reform bills are so complex, few if any
citizens, can begin to truly comprehend their intent. The
various bills all require computerized voting with both
touch screens and optical scanners. Support is offered by a
surprisingly diverse array of right and left leaning
interest groups.

The solution offered by Bill Faulkner,
favored by a growing number of citizens, is much more
direct: citizens voting on and counting paper ballots. The
nation conducted elections like this for over a
century.

Faulkner points out that a “…paper receipt
(from a touch screen) is only an alleged facsimile of the
way a voter’s ballot was actually cast. But this provides
only the illusion of validation.” He notes that
it’s not at all difficult to program a touch screens that
casts a vote for “X” while giving you a paper receipt
indicating that you voted for “Y”. According to
Faulkner, the illusory nature of paper receipts and the
whole touch screen paper trail is “worse than useless
because they provide a false sense of ballot integrity.”

The Solution: Make optical scan forms the actual
ballots, i.e., paper ballots, have citizens count them by
hand, and use the machines to check the hand
count.

Faulkner’s plan incorporates the existing
realities of Florida elections and voting systems. Most of
the voting districts have Precinct Count Optical Scanners,
voting machines that count paper forms hand marked by
voters. These paper forms and optical scanners are
certified by the Florida Secretary of State.

Two changes
in regulation are required. First, the paper forms voters
fill out by hand would be designated the ballot of
record. This means those ballots would be the official
record of votes. Second, Florida law would be changed to
allow the hand counting of paper
ballots.

Each process checks the other and the entire
process serves as both a tabulation of votes and a
simultaneous audit, conducted in the open by citizen’s not
private concerns

Advantages

This
approach has a number of significant advantages. Combined,
these changes return power to the
people.

Citizens control the process:
The counting of paper ballots would be conducted by
citizens, in full public view, on election night. The
volunteers would live in the locality where the race took
place and represent a cross section of the population. This
was done for over a hundred years with far fewer questions
about elections than we have now. It’s feasible and a
proven success as our history shows.

Citizens
regain confidence in the process: Instead of a crew of
experts from private corporations (the voting machine
companies or other vendors) or public officials who disdain
inquiries, this approach involves citizens conducting the
count that determines the winner.

Cross
checking between hand and machine count: The complaint
about hand counts, complaints from those who sell e-voting
machines, is that human error occurs when humans count
votes. They forget that there is both human error plus a
capability for human avarice at play in the handling and
programming of voting machines. Our democracy was built on
human hand counts and tabulation of voting results. By
putting citizens in charge, errors will be caught and
corrected on the spot.

Reduced post
election controversy: Close elections or elections with
nonsensical outcomes are difficult to recount due to state
laws that make recounts difficult and often expensive. When
recounts take place, the recounts often lack common sense
like Virginia’s refusal to allow examination of optical
scan forms in 2005. The simultaneous hand counting and
machine checking creates a situation where the necessity of
recounts is greatly reduced.

Winners and
losers

The big winners with this plan are the people,
Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Greens,
etc. Anyone involved in the political process who wants to
fight for their cause on a level playing field would come
out ahead with citizen counting of paper ballots in public
view.

The members of national and state
legislatures would lose out because their control over
voting would disappear. The citizen count makes the process
available to everyone and eliminates the need for experts
who stand between those elected and those who elect them
speaking a language that only the experts can understand.
We the people could actually understand our elections once
again.

Elections were conducted with hand counted paper
ballots throughout the history of this country. The fact
that California was able to count its very long ballots and
produce quick results for decades proves the point. Those
who say some hand counts take weeks simply don’t
understand that the rest of us can read and remember.
Canada, Ireland, and England are just three countries that
have efficient election systems with citizens voting on
paper ballots, hand counted on election eve.

A fair,
honest and fully viewed process of voting and vote counting
is one of three pillars necessary to continue the
improvement of our great experiment in democracy. The other
two are the elimination of private money in campaigns, a
most obvious form of legal bribery, and the vigorous
enforcement of voting rights legislation to allow all
citizens to vote without hindrance.

This proposal goes a
long way to solve the problems of Florida 2000, 2002, 2004,
and 2006. It would be the crowing achievement of the Crist
administration and set an example for the rest of the
nation.

This proposal would provide
a voting system that actually proves that those taking
office are actually elected fair and square. Right now, we
have no such
guarantee.

End

Permission
to reprint with attribution to the author and a link to this
article in “Scoop” Independent
Media.

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